Dolly Parton has had a long, storied career up to this point. Her legacy has already been cemented as one of the finest musicians and humans in the industry, but things may have shaken out a bit differently had she and her husband, Carl Dean, chosen a different path in life.
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Parton and Dean are set to celebrate their 55th anniversary as a married couple in 2021. Throughout their time as a married couple, they’ve seen it all. However, had they made the decision to have kids, Dolly admits it’s likely that she never would have been a star.
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A 2014 Glamour interview reveals why Dolly made the decision to never have children. She would have spent all her time and energy being a parent.
"I would have been a great mother, I think. I would probably have given up everything else,” she said. “Because I would've felt guilty about that, if I'd have left them.”
"Everything would have changed. I probably wouldn't have been a star," she added.
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More so, Dolly revealed that she and Dean already had a name picked out if they had a little girl.
"My husband and I, when we first got married, we thought about if we had kids, 'What would they look like? Would they be tall because he's tall? Or would they be little squats like me?' If we'd had a girl, she was gonna be called Carla…” Dolly said.
In the early 80’s, Dolly suffered from extreme pain due to severe abdominal bleeding that forced her to cancel a tour. In 1984, she underwent a partial hysterectomy and as a result, was told she would never be able to have children.
“It was a really bad time,” she said in a 2018 interview. “Sometimes God just has to smack you down. He was almost saying, ‘Sit your pretty little a** down because we have to deal with some stuff!'”
WATCH MORE: 5 reasons why Dolly Parton is an American treasure
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